We’re now looking at courthouse “Plan B”.

The Mayor’s Office is reaching out to the state Fire Marshall’s office in an effort to get the new Duval County Courthouse up and running as soon as possible. Mayor’s Office Spokesman David DeCamp says

“The Mayor’s administration has determined it will be impossible, because of the contractor’s failure to have a functioning and passable smoke detection system, to open the courthouse on Tuesday as planned,” he says.

Jacksonville City Councilman Matt Schellenberg tells us he has spoken with a number of judges who all agree, they will continue operating the court in a provisional capacity for now, as they did this past week.

Overnight testing was supposed to clear up problems that surfaced with the fire safety system. Fire Chief Martin Senterfitt said this afternoon the testing started out well, but then could not be completed.

“Tuesday is looking pretty grim,” he says.

Grim has become null. DeCamp says the contractors suspended today’s scheduled testing because the proposed solutions looked like they would not be successful. Those tests will not begin for at least another day.

Schellenberg says, logistically, a decision had to be made today so everyone could be notified for work Tuesday.

The Courthouse was scheduled to open on Tuesday, but since we first told you about problems Wednesday night, the complications have grown. Senterfitt says construction has now strayed from the original approved plans.

“When they get the system working, we then have to go back, review the whole system once again to make sure it’s in fire code.”

Bringing in third party engineers is not a step they had planned for in this process. For his part, Senterfitt says an engineer needs to certify the systems are working, then another engineer has to tell him the new plans are legal, and only then could he allow occupancy. This is a process he says could take days.

In the meantime, Mayor Alvin Brown’s office has sent a number of plans to Chief Judge Donald Moran, who will ultimately decide how to continue with court operations until the new facility is open.

Some of the options include the following:

-Using the Duval County Courthouse on E. Bay Street (the building operations just moved out of), which still maintains valid certification of occupancy.

-Supplementing the old location by holding some proceedings in the Traffic Violations Bureau on Beach Blvd. This location has been operating normally during the move.

- Using judicial facilities in adjacent counties, including Clay and Nassau.

- Exploring the potential use of the Bryan Simpson United State Courthouse on North Hogan Street, which would need the approval of relevant federal agencies.

- Opening city owned buildings, like the Prime Osborn Convention Center or City Hall for court business.

Chief Judge Moran’s office told WOKV he is currently reviewing all options on the table, although nothing is decided at this point.

The letter from the Mayor’s Office was also sent to a number of public officials, including State Attorney Angela Corey, Clerk of Courts Jim Fuller and the City Council.

In a release, State Attorney Angela Corey says this delay is “an unfortunate hardship, but we will adjust and continue to pursue justice in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.” Her office is not currently affected in the move.

City Councilman Bill Bishop says it’s good to have options on the table, but each plan has a number of pros and cons. On using other court facilities, he says it’s helpful to have the courtrooms already running, but those locations already have heavy case loads.

“There’s a lot of scheduling issues involved in that, there’s cost involved in transporting people and evidence and documents,” he says.

But it would cost to get the city owned buildings outfitted for court operations. And Bishop says who pays those relocation costs is not yet clear.